We don't know what God looks like - but we do know something about what God is like, don't we? -from what the Bible tells us, from the life of Jesus and from our own experience of God.

One of my favourite Bible verses is Romans 8: 39, which says that there is "nothing in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord."

Or, as the Living Bible puts it, "nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us"

That's great to remember, isn't it?

But, like so many well known Bible verses, it can become changed in the way we understand it. We must never become confused into thinking that it means that nothing can separate us from God.

God's love is always there for us. He will never, never withdraw that. But, there are many things which can separate us from him so that we don't receive the full benefit from his love and power.

We must never become complacent about God's love for us. Over the past year or so since we began to study Isaiah at our Sunday morning Bible Study group, much of my personal Bible reading has been in the Old Testament and it has shown me that, time and time again, the Israelite people became complacent about their relationship with God. They thought that because they were God's 'chosen people' they were somehow more special than anyone else, so they relaxed abut their worship and obedience to God's laws. They became confused about their faith and distracted by other beliefs and other cultures. They began to worship other gods. And this led to their downfall - in spite of constant warnings from God through his prophets.

We see this in this morning's reading from Joshua. The people had experienced the miracle of God's power in holding back the waters to allow them to cross the flooded Jordan river - and they'd had to place their trust in what Joshua told them God would do for them and step into the bed of the river to walk across. At Jericho, they had to trust that God would bring them victory in a most unusual way. They had to be totally obedient and saw the results of their obedience in God's action in delivering Jericho into their hands. After witnessing all this, we might have expected that they'd continue to be obedient. (Do you think you and I would continue to obey God's instructions if we'd witnessed such evidence of his power?) But they didn't. They caved in under temptation and kept some of the loot from Jericho for themselves, even though they'd been told that it was all to be a tithe to God.

That story is not unfamiliar, is it. Human nature never changes. How often do we follow a time of spiritual high by experiencing a time of doubt? Something - or someone - gets at us!

God has given us a vision for the future here at St. Philip's

Even though we're a very small church, he has shown us a very big job to be done. We should not become overwhelmed by the thought of "how on earth are we going to do it?" Just as he has promised each one of us individually that he will not put us in any situation we can't cope with or without giving us the strength to cope, (that promise is in 1 Corinthians 10: 13), I am sure he will do the same for us as a church.

But, we will not be able to do the job he is asking us to do if we become complacent about the good things that have happened here or allow ourselves to become distracted from our relationship with him by other things.

What can separate us from God?

The short - and "pat" - answer is SIN.

I don't believe that "sin" means simply doing wicked things or breaking the rules.

"Sin" is the state we allow ourselves to get into when we become distracted from fellowship with God - by anything that takes so much of our interest and time that we stop thinking about God and we stop including him in our everyday life.

Jesus lived and went to the Cross to make it possible for each one of us to have a personal relationship with God, just as he did himself. When we turn our backs on that personal relationship, we are in effect saying to Jesus, "Well, you did all that for nothing, as far as I'm concerned" Is that what you'd really want to say to Jesus if he walked in here today?

So, what can cause us to turn our backs on the personal relationship that God offers to us?

It can be things we generally think of as "sins" - dishonesty, selfishness, drunkenness, cruelty, gambling, infidelity, and so on. But it can also be what are usually regarded as "good" things - caring for our family

• work
• hobbies
• sport
• education
• community service

Satan is very cunning, very devious. He knows only too well how to fool us into letting him have influence over our lives. Paul, in 2 Corinthians 11: 13-15, writing about "false apostles", describes Satan as "an angel of light" - someone who appears very attractive - so warns us that we can be misled by people who appear to promote all the right and good things, but are doing it for Satan's purposes. In the same way, Satan can use many of our daily responsibilities to distract us from our relationship with God - and I'm sure he does!

One of the ways I believe he has been trying to distract us this year at St. Philip's is in the area of our health - or lack of it. It has occurred to me that a very high proportion of the leaders and key workers in this congregation have been struck with health problems this year:

e.g. Lee - knee op and complications

Don - back pain

Mike - broken ankle

Gloria - Allan's illness, her mother's deterioration, caring for grandchildren in Brisbane

Denise & Darryl - parents illness

Jan - mother in hospital

Phyl - concern for John's health, own health

Corale - mother's health & wellbeing, caring for Judy & family, new baby in family

Me - George's health, my own health, my business

and there are probably others I haven't thought of or haven't known about. For a small congregation with a big job to do, that's a lot of distractions!!

I am not suggesting for one moment that we should not be spending time and energy in caring for our families. Of course we should. Even from the Cross, Jesus made provision for the care of his mother!

But these stresses and crises are affecting such things as our attendance at bible study, prayer groups, worship and the leadership training that Wally and Theo are providing for us. And I suspect that for many of you, as for me, they also affect our personal time spent in communication with God. I know that when I am not well or am extra busy with life's "things", it is so much harder to set aside time for personal prayer and Bible study, even though I know from experience that half an hour in the morning spent quietly reading the Bible, thinking about what I've read and in prayer sets me up for a smooth-running day and means that I'm so much more positive about things and more conscious of God's presence throughout the day. It makes me more efficient in my work and more caring towards other people throughout the day. But I'm still so easily distracted!

I feel sure that the fact that we are being 'bombarded' this year by health problems and other personal crises is one indication that we are on the right track as a church. I believe that Satan has been working hard at distracting us from the work that God has asked us to do and doing plenty to take us away from doing the things that will build us up spiritually.

In Ephesians 6, Paul reminds us that we are fighting against 'principalities and powers', "against the authorities and potentates of this dark world, against superhuman forces of evil in the heavens" and that we need to "Put on all the armour that God provides" so we can stand firm against all the tricks of the devil. He does not want to see God's work done and he does not want us to live our lives in a close relationship with our Lord. He will do all he can to prevent that. We need to arm ourselves so we do not allow him the power to prevent it.

So, we need to do as Jesus did when confronted by temptation to do things Satan's way and say" Satan, Get lost!!" and be determined in using the provisions that God has made for our spiritual health.

What are those provisions?

In many of the studies we have done here at St. Philip's four things have been emphasised as necessary for our spiritual health. They are - regular worship

• regular Bible study
• regular prayer
• regular fellowship with other Christians

There are some of us in this congregation whose physical health depends on discipline in proper diet, regular exercise and taking regular medication in correct dose at the correct time. This is a fact of life for us and we make sure we do it all, or we know our physical health will suffer.

We all need to take the same approach for our spiritual health - be at worship regularly (if we can get out of bed on Sunday morning, we should be here at church! -

do regular Bible reading. (Corale has in the past organised Scripture Union Notes for those who use them, and I'm sure she would do so for you) But Bible Study is easier when you do it with other people. Ask Jo about our Bible Study groups.

• regular prayer - personal, daily

- come to church prayer mornings

• fellowship with other Christians. We need time spent together, getting to know each other as people, not just a s co-workers in our area of mission in the church. (Some of you are really good at getting to know people and sharing in fellowship. For others, like me, it's one of the more difficult things to do. We need help with it) We need to know what is happening in each other's lives so we can support each other , pray for each other and share our resources.

If we don't, then the vision that God has given us for our church will not become a reality and this year with Wally and Theo will have been wasted.

In short, I'm saying that I believe this year St. Philip's is under attack from Satan because we have set out on the path of doing God's work in Airport West. We need to be aware and beware of distractions that will take our attention from God and his purpose for St. Philip's and to be faithful in the things which maintain a healthy spiritual life.

I can't say it better than Paul does in Colossians 2: 6-7 (Living Bible)

"And now just as you trusted Christ to save you, trust him too, for each day's problems; live in vital union with him. Let your roots grow down into him and draw up nourishment from him. See that you go on growing in the Lord, and become strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught. Let your lives overflow with joy and thanksgiving for all he has done."